PBL falls to 0-2

Just ask Paxton-Buckley-Loda coach Greg Wood after the Panthers fell to 0-2 on the season with a 27-0 drubbing from Macomb, leaving his team scoreless in the first two games of his tenure.

The Bombers scored on four of their first six possessions on long, time-consuming drives that left 9 minutes, 48 seconds for the PBL offense to work with in the game.

The touchdowns came on marches of 72, 59, 69 and 86 yards, featuring 38 plays, only two of which were passes.

"They kept the ball an awful long time," Wood said. "We had mental errors. We just have to learn how to play hard all the time. If I knew the answer to that, I'd be in the Hall of Fame and worth a million dollars."

After a reporter commented that Rome wasn't built in a day,Wood replied: "Yeah, but it'd be nice to get a brick put down every once in a while, too."

One of those bricks may have come from the Panthers' passing attack, which opened up with the addition of senior receiver Dylan Bergman, who was unavailable for PBL's first game against Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley.

Bergman made a 50-yard reception and was quarterback Kendall Cox's first option when the Panthers fell behind.

"(Bergman) did some good things," Wood said. "We need to get him on the field a little bit more. He made a catch. He's got to work himself into more playing time as the season goes along and he may have accelerated that process a little bit today."

Fullback Ricky Tester led PBL with 53 yards rushing, many of his attempts coming on dives straight into the trenches, which were dominated by Macomb.

"(Tester) ran the ball well," Wood said. "We just messed it up ourselves by not getting penetration and taking care of things. It's two weeks in a row we're losing the battle up front. It's the old football adage that if you lose the battle up front, you're going to lose the game."

Wood is not all gloom and doom, though. He just wants to see some improvement.

"I don't want to be all dread here. I've got good kids. They work hard," Wood said. "I hope people are patient in the building process, but we've got to turn it up a notch, too."